Relationship between melanin-concentrating hormone- and neuropeptide Y-containing neurons in the goldfish hypothalamus.
Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) inhibits food intake in goldfish, unlike the orexigenic action in rodents, via the melanocortin system with suppression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA expression. We therefore investigated the neuronal relationship between MCH- and NPY-containing neurons in the goldfish brain, using a double-immunofluorescence method and confocal laser scanning microscopy. MCH- and NPY-like immunoreactivities were distributed throughout the brain. In particular, MCH-containing nerve fibers or endings lay in close apposition to NPY-containing neurons in a specific region of the hypothalamus, the nucleus posterioris periventricularis (NPPv). These observations suggest that MCH-containing neurons provide direct input to NPY-containing neurons in the NPPv of goldfish, and that MCH plays a crucial role in the regulation of feeding behavior as an anorexigenic neuropeptide, inhibiting the orexigenic activity of NPY.
Matsuda
Kouhei
K
Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama, Toyama, Japan. kmatsuda@sci.u-toyama.ac.jp
Kojima
Kenji
K
Shimakura
Sei-Ichi
S
Miura
Tohru
T
Uchiyama
Minoru
M
Shioda
Seiji
S
Ando
Hironori
H
Takahashi
Akiyoshi
A
D000818:Animals; D006054:Goldfish / Q000378:metabolism*; D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones / Q000378:metabolism*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism*; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000378:metabolism*
D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones; D008543:Melanins; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D010907:Pituitary Hormones; C019463:melanin-concentrating hormone